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daily commute to DB

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  1. #11

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    Jun 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimbo:
    Where I live it's pretty quiet actually so no issues with noise.

    It's nice to know you have a database of previous comments made by myself.

    Shouldn't you be 'working'?
    It's called memory Jimbo ;-)

  2. #12

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    Oct 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    True it's already one stuck between a highway/container port and an old industrial area

    Jimbo, you just don't like DB because you always compare it to stepford wives that's it.
    With a family etc, it can have an appeal - that you personally don't like it is not very relevant. You are just very very biased when it comes to DB. It's fine but the OP needs to know it and take that into consideration.
    I won't get into the merits of DB for a family BUT everything I'm told is that the school situation is not great. DB International School you have to apply at birth to stand a chance. Discovery College is very competitive. And then there are a few newish ones like Discovery Mind that get mixed reviews. A LOT of DB kids are taking the ferry to HK Island then hopping on a school bus. Which in my mind completely defeats the purpose of living in the idyllic resort if your kid has a 45 min commute each way via Central.

    I think anyone considering buying a flat in DB should put in school applications to DBIS (and to DC on schedule for when ESF applications open) and see the results first.
    Fiona in HKG, shri and Mrs. Jones like this.

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by merchantms:
    I won't get into the merits of DB for a family BUT everything I'm told is that the school situation is not great. DB International School you have to apply at birth to stand a chance. Discovery College is very competitive. And then there are a few newish ones like Discovery Mind that get mixed reviews. A LOT of DB kids are taking the ferry to HK Island then hopping on a school bus. Which in my mind completely defeats the purpose of living in the idyllic resort if your kid has a 45 min commute each way via Central.

    I think anyone considering buying a flat in DB should put in school applications to DBIS (and to DC on schedule for when ESF applications open) and see the results first.
    ......but for the ones (and I know some) that manage to get their kids at DBIS ...it's great so it's all relative. I just don't like people who dismiss other people queries just because they have a big biased over something. Jimbo is a known poster on here whom I respect but he doesn't like DB with a passion (a bit like TB with GC) so when they post on it...has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

    Anyway, I wouldn't live in DB for a variety of reason but I know plenty of people who like it. I also wouldn't like in Lai Chi Kok and I bet many people wouldn't live where I live...

  4. #14

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    Feb 2009
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    I was going through my drawers the other day and dusted off an old receipt from 2008 for my son to join the DBIS waiting list. Those thieving motherfuckers stole my money and never called me back! I remember being position 117 on their fake waiting list and then chased them a year later I was 130 because of the priority they gave to teachers kids, siblings, etc. It's a pretty good business creating these fake waiting lists and taking money from people that they will never be able to provide a service too.

    Skyhook and Mrs. Jones like this.

  5. #15

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    Oct 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    ......but for the ones (and I know some) that manage to get their kids at DBIS ...it's great so it's all relative. I just don't like people who dismiss other people queries just because they have a big biased over something. Jimbo is a known poster on here whom I respect but he doesn't like DB with a passion (a bit like TB with GC) so when they post on it...has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

    Anyway, I wouldn't live in DB for a variety of reason but I know plenty of people who like it. I also wouldn't like in Lai Chi Kok and I bet many people wouldn't live where I live...
    I really don't care about Geoexpat squabbles. My point is simply - OP wants to buy meaning live in DB long-term. If it's being done "for the kids" ensure school places locally are possible first. If renting it would be different as can move more easily.

  6. #16

    If you want to buy in DB, then buy. Your job location will most likely change anyway every now and then.


  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    I was going through my drawers the other day and dusted off an old receipt from 2008 for my son to join the DBIS waiting list. Those thieving motherfuckers stole my money and never called me back! I remember being position 117 on their fake waiting list and then chased them a year later I was 130 because of the priority they gave to teachers kids, siblings, etc. It's a pretty good business creating these fake waiting lists and taking money from people that they will never be able to provide a service too.
    Knowing that DB has a (supposedly) shortage of school places, you'd think they'd have the town planning foresight to build another school (or two) before they develop more 'luxury™' housing, further exasperating the problem for parents.

    Wouldn't want to make people's lives easy.

  8. #18

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    The other mind boggling piece of trivia is that the ESF school in DB, Discovery College, is one of only a few ESF schools in HK that DONT have a catchment area. ie They accept kids from all over HK and bus them INTO DB every day. Most of the other ESF schools in HK only accept kids that live in the local school area. Do ESF/government bigwigs not know where DB is on a map and realise the complete lack of common sense here?

    Skyhook and merchantms like this.

  9. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    The other mind boggling piece of trivia is that the ESF school in DB, Discovery College, is one of only a few ESF schools in HK that DONT have a catchment area. ie They accept kids from all over HK and bus them INTO DB every day. Most of the other ESF schools in HK only accept kids that live in the local school area. Do ESF/government bigwigs not know where DB is on a map and realise the complete lack of common sense here?
    That's a private school. Do you know any other private school with a catchment area?

  10. #20

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    Oct 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by civil_servant:
    That's a private school. Do you know any other private school with a catchment area?
    ESF is now fully private for incoming classes due to removal of the subsidy. There will be no practical difference between the rest of ESF and the "private" ESF schools in a few years. Other than the catchments.